You know what they say about making movies about video games:

 

Don't.

 

It's well known that video games make notoriously bad movies, which includes anime.  That's why Street Fighter Alpha - The Movie is an interesting case, because it's surprisingly enjoyable. 

Anyone who has every played a Street Fighter game will know most of the characters:  Ryu - the wandering Japanese fighter, and Ken - Ryu's best friend from America, and fellow fighter.  They seem to be the staples of the various Street Fighter anime avaliable.

 

In this movie (which is actually two OVA (Original Video Animation) volumes pieced together) we learn that Ryu is slowly being consumed by an evil force known as The Dark Hadou.  This power manifests itself as a burst of dark energy that increases strength, but disables control over the mind.  It seems to stem from his purposeless life, one that seems to consist only of fighting and getting stronger.  Ryu isn't sure that he'll be able to break free of its hold if he can't do something to overcome it.

 

Ken arrives in Japan for a fighting tournament, and pays Ryu a visit.  At the same time, Shun, Ryu's long lost little brother arrives from Brazil.  Neither Ken or Ryu is willing to accept Shun as an actual relative of Ryu, and both see his arrival as unusually timely.  Shun enters the fighting tournament and shows signs of The Dark Hadou as well.  Before Ryu has time to consider this element, Shun is kidnapped by agents from the Shadowlaw corporation.

 

From this point on, the rest of the movie centers around Ryu's journey of self discovery, attempting to find both Shun, and a way to defeat the evil fog which has been cast upon him.  I could go on, but this is really supposed to be a review.

 

Let me start by saying that the artwork and animation in this film is quite good.  Not the best I've seen, but everything moves fluidly, and the action sequences are inventive and fun to watch.  The voice acting is good in Japanese, and surprisingly English as well.

 

The storyline is a little boring, honestly.  It's not an overdone concept or anything, but it's sort of a lame way to build on the characters we've come to know and beat people up with.  Shun is incredibly annoying, as well.

 

So, if you're in the mood for a high budget fight fest, you'll have a good time with this one.  If you're looking for interesting characters or a decent story, though, buy Grave of the Fireflies instead.

 

-James Napier